Roger Mellie

My sister, in her early teens, declared she was no longer barracking for Melbourne and had decided Carlton were the team for her. My father's response was 'Where are you going to live?' She wasn't that happy when I packed a suitcase for her. * Not a crazy act as such although her response was.

I thought he'd knocked back a leadership role(s) in the past, but not 100% sure.

I think you need to get back on the cheroots, but I'd like to see that line-up. Who is Pets?

Agree 100%. Great strip that brings with it a spasmodic shudder. This would have been a perfect option for the clash strip poll @Demonland

Save yourself some cash (like the AFL) and use polystyrene

Your disguise fooled me

And another courtesy of 'The Count': Checked out a bit of the rehab group ... - Viney was very clean when they had the footys out. - Joel Smith has put on a really good amount of size - Harmes started there, then moved over to the main oval and ran a few laps before joining in with the main group towards the end. He's really matured in his body shape I think. - Jeffy and Johnstone also moved to the main oval and ran a few laps together, and Weid ran a few of his own as well, has put on a little bit of size, but still has a ways to go Viney and J.Smith were running some sprints and then some 400's together, Smith was smashing him, tho I believe is a fair way ahead in terms of running. - vandenBerg did his own session up at the rooms under cover, did a fair bit of boxing and battle rope stuff, but its very clear that he's been off leg for some time, huge upper body, tiny pegs. As for the main group, as Jack said, the conditions meant that you can take absolutely nothing away from a skill perspective, but it at least looked like they were training to them, in the full ground drills, the long kicks down the line were kicked to space to the advantage of the man, rather than trying to hit a target. - Agree on Hogan, one of the better performers in the conditions, and looked hungry. One of the drills in the positional groups, Hogan had to tackle TMac while Pedo tried to shepherd him, and TMac avoid being tackled by him. Pedo was doing a good job, and it got pretty heated between the two for a second, and Hoges just concentrated on getting rid of Pedo, which he did, before getting back to TMac and tackling him to ground. - Trac is still sublime to watch, even in the rain. Was with the mids all session, and was covering the ground well. - I was impressed with Tyson, and I'm a critic. Was moving really well, noticeably better than last season. - Nobody told Oliver it was wet ... ridiculous what he can do. He walked past me afterwards as well, deceivingly tall. - Hibberd kicked in from a behind during some of the heaviest rain, and it would have gone 60+ - Fritsch took a few nice grab, needs to smash the hamburgers tho - Get on board the Ginga Ninja, I've seen plenty of him in full flight in the NEAFL, and he looked like he was fitting in really well.

Lifted from BF with a big thank you to Captain Jack: As noted earlier conditions were awful this morning. It’s hardly rained in months in some parts of QLD yet there we were in weather ranging from light drizzle to heavy rain.As such skills and structures were not great/hard to make out.The first part that I saw was a full-ground drill that was mostly about ball movement and started from loose balls in various parts of the ground. The players had to run hard and cover plenty of territory as a new ball would be released a long way from the previous contest.Towards the end the players split into four groups based on size/role - talls, smalls, midfielders, wingers/flankers - to do various contested drills and one-on-one or two-on-two scenarios.I missed the first hour of the session (likely a lot of warming up anyway) but here are my thoughts organized by player:Rehab/touch group included Harmes, Viney, J Smith, Garlett, Johnstone, Weideman (who looks a good size)Hunt watched on - no obvious issues but he was dressed for training and didn’t take any part at all.Vandenberg also watching - didn’t look like he was training at all.Hogan good hands overhead in wet was a highlight of the session. Others battled with the heavy ball. Good 1/1 win v Lever in the only contest I saw between the two. Ferocious in tackling drill v Pedo/Gawn - looks fit and hungry.In the full-ground stuff Hogan and McDonald were lined up at opposite ends the whole time, which I found odd. Would have thought they need to get some chemistry together. Then again it was good weather for ducks, not key forwards, so not a big deal.Jetta seemed to be matching up on bigger opponents including Hogan - I think an interview with him mentioned this as a focus (good move given how many times he gets hung out to dry by his teammates).Lever vocal from boundary during rests - will be in the leadership group surely. Didn’t quite do the full session - watched on in the second half with lower back iced. Maybe just copped a knock there.Gawn taped up right thigh - cork? Looks huge otherwise. I am concerned that wth Spencer gone he doesn’t have another mature ruckman to test himself against but he looks in amazing condition as has been reported. As for King and Filipovic, both look to have filled out a bit but the latter in particular is very raw still. Trouble if Gawn goes down.Petracca clearly trained as a midfielder today and was encouraged to use his better fitness to work on his two-way running. Not something he’d be too used to, I imagine, as a highly talented junior. Other than that his clean hands with the wet ball were a highlight. Gee I’m excited about what he can bring this year.Tyson showed good skills and moved freely.Melksham played deep forward mostly. Used his kicking skills to good effect going inside 50. Given that Garlett was running laps they might be prepping the Snake for a deeper role early in the season along with Bugg, who did the whole main group session.An amusing quote from Goodwin: “mids standing around doing **** all, get forward to help Hoges!”Our new Cult Hero “Sideshow Bob” Baker looks a likely sort - good size, good confidence in tight situations - still learning the team ‘rule’s though and may have got carried away once or twice when he should have handballed out of trouble.In general goal kicking was no good in the wet but oh well.Wagner’s kicking skills still a worry - looks risky and flukey. I will continue to not really rate him as a player for now.Hibberd bombed a few long torps from kickouts.Balic looks ok in contests - bit of size about him. Hard to see where he would get a game round 1, behind a number of similar wing/HFF types but is somewhat AFL-ready.Oscar looks bigger but still was matched up against Keilty/Filipovic in tackling - would like to see him against the big dogs. Given Frost’s size and reportedly better positioning skills as a defender I would hope he can take the biggest forward because Oscar is still building up his body.Spargo slight and struggling with fitness by the end - expected. Battled manfully in the tackling despite giving up plenty of size even to the likes of ANB. Don’t think we will see much of him this year.Fritsch is also very very slight - bordering on Frail Cale Morton size. I think he’d need to take Hannan’s spot, with the latter offering plenty more physicality and grunt at this stage.Brayshaw a slight concern - did most of the work but was not in with the main mids. In the tackling/contested work he was with the second-string group of flankers and young kids. Might be kept out of the real contested stuff for a while as he builds confidence.Jones + Vince were out there as playing coaches at times - as veterans they would need a lower volume of training. They mostly skipped the physical/tackling aspects which is fair enough. Earlier Vince and Lewis both trained in the back line as we know - but I struggle to see a spot for both of them in the same team.Stretch, Salem + JKH training with Tyson, Oliver, Petracca - those six along with Jones and Viney (and Maynard) would make up the bulk of our midfield rotations you’d think.Please ask for clarification if I was rambling incoherently above.

A few soccer style rules in there.

They are the sponsors of the preseason comp. I doubt too many of us would have a clue who they actually are. It's a bit like AHG - very had to pack a punch with a bunch of nothing letters (with a few exceptions like... AFL)

For the last two or three years, we've put we've played with a fairly strong side during the JLT. Rather than give the new kids a taste or experiment too much, we seem to go with our best 26 and start to fine tune. I expect the same - much as I'd like to see what the draftees are capable of. I don't really expect to see anyone who isn't cherry ripe with a full preseason, so I'm not expecting to see Weids, Spargo, Tim Smith, McKenna, Joel Smith or anyone who's been in the rehab group for an extended period. Of the rehab group I'd only expect to see Kent, Jones (both back in full training) and, maybe at the last minute, Viney. Love to see anyone that's ready and new to the club but don't think it will really happen - maybe Fritsch and/or Keilty

A little about training and current injuries: http://www.afl.com.au/news/2018-01-19/tracks-back-key-dee-is-sore-no-more

I listed Brayshaw last year and will run with him again. Works hard, has the talent and deserves a good run at it. Yes please to Salem too

Craig Coombes might make an interesting podcast guest @Demonland

Calm down kids, he's in the time trial video on the MFC website.

He had surgery to both ankles in the off-season so we can cut him some slack (just this once)

I always thought he was a pretty good player until 2107. Horrendous year for him and not sure why. Injury? Is your assessment based on his 2017 form or in general?

As inane as it was, Ox and Allen seemed to fit the demographic - if the majority of callers are anything to go by. I enjoyed some of Ox's footy insight. Very ordinary effort by SEN.

I think the issue with Balic is that his fitness base was (and was expected to be) way behind the others having not played for so long. I cant remember when his last game was before being granted the last leave from Freo. As long as there is gradual improvement - anyone?

Thanks as usual DS. A question - there was mention of Frost playing a bit up the ground next year, not necesasrily as a forward. In 666s pics, there are a few of Frost with Hogan against Hunt and Vince. Can you tell if he's training exclusively with the backs, elsewhere or are they mixing it up a bit? Cheers

Thank you, thank you 666

Training the weights room down?

Or he'd be a cult leader

Love the 'All hail Nibbler' pic

Or accused of splitting red hairs